McClintock Ping List.
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Posted on 08/10/2006 8:26:40 AM PDT by calcowgirl
California has two once and future candidates for governor running for lieutenant governor this year. One of them backed, until recently, by the now radioactive Mel Gibson. The other nearly backed, but for a shortsighted advisor, back in the 1980s by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Republican Tom McClintock ran for governor in the 2003 recall. Democrat John Garamendi ran for governor in 1982 and 1994, finishing second in the Democratic primary both times, and pulled out of the 1986 race. He even thought about running in the 2003 recall. Though he did not gain the notoriety he would have in that race, he leads McClintock in private polls and in the latest Field Poll, 48% to 38%.
The man who did run in the recall, the conservative McClintock, endured a media flap earlier this week when a fundraising letter from Mel Gibson that he’d been using was leaked by Democrats. (I didn’t publish it for two reasons. It had been shopped elsewhere, and web host LA Weekly tech issues made it impossible to reproduce here.) McClintock was forced to disavow Gibson’s support in the wake of his ludicrous anti-Jewish tirade following a drunk driving arrest, something you may have heard about.
While McClintock ran unopposed in his primary, Garamendi, the twice-elected state insurance commissioner, lost a sizable lead and then came from behind in a battle with the higher-spending state Senator Jackie Speier.
Garamendi had seemed to be hurt by an insurance industry advertising campaign against him, but garnered plenty of press for not backing down from an auto insurance regulation when, he says, the industry threatened him.
Garamendi has a long track record in California and national politics. In addition to his two actual runs for governor -- he finished a distant second in the Democratic primary to then LA Mayor Tom Bradley in 1982 and then Treasurer Kathleen Brown in 1994 -- and the aborted 1986 bid, Garamendi lost to Gray Davis in a 1986 bid for state controller.
Davis had only been in the Assembly for four years at that point, but he represented Beverly Hills, and had served for seven years as Jerry Brown’s chief of staff, making him one of the most powerful and best-connected politicians in the state, and Garamendi's run against him a risky one. Then in 1990, Garamendi was elected state insurance commissioner, the post he gave up in 1994 to run for governor.
After serving several years as then President Bill Clinton’s deputy secretary of the interior, Garamendi was a merchant banker in Democratic rainmaker Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies empire, then returned to public life in 2002, again winning election as state insurance commissioner. He’s a highly experienced figure, and Californians are used to voting for him.
Indeed, Garamendi is one of those figures who, had several things gone differently, might well have been governor by now. He was a ‘70s wunderkind, elected to the state Assembly in 1974, then the Senate in 1976, and rose quickly to the post of Senate majority leader. But he ran afoul of the Legislature’s internal politics, and in the mid-’80s launched a leadership challenge against then Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti which gained no backing.
One thing that did not happen for Garamendi in the mid-’80s was gaining the support of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The action movie star had actually offered to headline a Garamendi fundraising dinner in Los Angeles, the two men having hit it off as big, smart jocks. But Garamendi’s senior political advisor at the time put the kibosh to the alliance. His thinking? That Schwarzenegger was too conservative to be associated with. And that Schwarzenegger, because of his pronounced Austrian accent and overdeveloped body, would never be a big movie star anyway.
As a moderate Democrat with consistent environmental and organized labor backing, Garamendi’s politics are a good fit for California. A big, good-looking guy, an ex-Cal football star with a Harvard MBA, this rancher and former Peace Corps Volunteer seems straight out of Central Casting.
Typically, he has not raised much money, but his frequent practice has been to borrow against his family’s land when necessary and pay off the loan after the campaign. After a challenging primary campaign, he had only $400,000 cash on hand as of the June 30th reporting deadline.
He goes up against the man who is California’s most prominent conservative politician, Republican Tom McClintock. This veteran state senator from Southern California’s Ventura County is brainy and engaging, one of the most consistent voices in the state against tax increases and for government reorganization.
After narrowly losing a race for state controller in 2002 to ex-eBay honcho Steve Westly, McClintock shot to fame as a candidate for governor in the dramatic 2003 recall election. He infuriated many pragmatic Republicans by refusing to get out of the race in favor of Arnold Schwarzenegger. But in the end, he was helpful to Schwarzenegger. Sitting next to him in the only debate in which the action superstar participated, McClintock might have seriously damaged the former Mr. Universe’s candidacy by turning to him and confronting him on his scanty budget plans. But he did not, and ended up a distant third with a respectable 13% of the vote while Schwarzenegger won in a landslide.
Although he was no favorite of the Pete Wilson crew -- McClintock and Wilson frequently clashed during Wilson’s governorship -- that then dominated Schwarzenegger’s operation, McClintock, never a big fundraiser, found that the grateful governor returned the favor by helping him raise money and win re-election to his senate seat.
In February, with Schwarzenegger under severe fire from conservative activists for his post-special election return to the center and hiring of controversial Democrat Susan Kennedy as his chief of staff, Schwarzenegger and McClintock announced that they would run together this year as a team. This greatly helped the governor and his new political operation quell the anti-Arnold rebellion on the right at the party’s state convention.
But lately, with McClintock voting in the Senate against all but one of the four infrastructure bonds that Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislative leaders Don Perata and Fabian Nunez succeeded in placing on the November ballot, the Schwarzenegger-McClintock team has seemed more problematic. Indeed, he's been nowhere to be seen on either of the governor's bus tours so far in the general election. If McClintock wants to get on the bus, he'd better go to the Greyhound station.
Despite being unopposed for the Republican nomination, McClintock had only $1.5 million cash on hand as of the June 30th reporting deadline. Yet he does have high favorable ratings, coming out of the recall campaign as a highly respected figure. However, he benefited greatly in the recall by virtue of the fact that it was in no one’s interest to attack him. Governor Davis and the Democrats didn’t want to attack him, because they wanted him to cripple Schwarzenegger’s candidacy. Some felt Schwarzenegger should attack him, but the movie star realized that move could backfire, and moved instead to establish his dominance in the party and wean away potential McClintock supporters.
McClintock is widely respected as a man of principle. But in California, those principles may not stand him in such good stead with the Democrats going after him in earnest this fall.
McClintock Ping List.
Please freepmail me if you want on or off this list
Anyone think McClintock could beat this guy without Arnold at the top of the ballot ?
BTTT
Well Arnold is, and Tom can, no matter what Bradley says.
Tom can, if the GOP doesn't turn their back on him.
Sending him to the Greyhound Station for a bus ticket is not a good indicator.
Even the author can't bring himself to say "...long track record of success ..." ;)
I've sent Tom my donation ~ have you?
Numerous ones -- since 2003.
To date, I haven't seen any CAGOP contributions to Tom reported.
And that's the problem isn't it. When conservatives have friends like the CalGOP, who's needs enemies?
McClintock for Lt. Governor
1029 K Street, Suite 44
Sacramento, CA 95814
www.tommcclintock.net
Absolutely!!!
Most of the decisions on how to allocate the party funds will be made at the upcoming convention next weekend, so it's not nessesarily a need to worry that not much has been given yet.
Too late. Most of it is already spent.
CA: State GOP spent $4.2 million to promote Schwarzenegger in June
AP on Bakersfield Californian ^ | 8/1/06 | Laura Kurtzman - ap
Posted on 08/01/2006 4:31:44 PM PDT by NormsRevengeThe California Republican Party has raised $12.3 million this year, most of it in unlimited donations, according to campaign finance reports reviewed Tuesday.
That is nearly twice what the Democratic Party has raised this year, although Democrats still have more in their bank account heading into the November general election. As of June 30, the Republican Party had $3 million cash on hand, while the Democrats had $9 million. That includes money the party raised in previous years.
Yep ~ my car is proudly wearing one. ";^)
Have a suggestion. The next time a Republican throws out a cheesy comment to intimidate and embarrass, here's a good response.
Tell me. Exactly how much money have you donated the the Senator's campaign and when did you last donate?
Did you also donate to the liberal's campaign? If so, how much?
Did you also send money to the Minister of Information. How much? Do you plan to do It again?
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